A 300-ship graveyard, with a few still visible at low tide.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

A living time capsule of the 1960s Richardson Bay water-front.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A small park on Bourbon Street features life-size bronze statues of New Orleans musicians.

This New Orleans statue of a portly figure in a goofy hat pays homage to a classic of satirical literature.

A little piece of Paris in the sultry south of the U.S.

If New Orleans is the birthplace of the "cocktail," why does their own museum of cocktail memorabilia beg to differ?

The restaurant keeps a hidden séance room on the second floor and reserves a table for the spirit of the former owner each night.

A 200-year-old building in the French Quarter that was to be Napoleon's home in the New World.

Storyville was New Orleans' historic red light district and hotbed of jazz music, sometimes referred to simply as "The District."

This historic "City of the Dead" lies prominently in the center of New Orleans' famous Garden District.

This symbolic piece of New Orleans architecture is also home to a few ghastly stories.

A 200-year-old bar in the historic French Quarter refuses to give up its place in history, nor its role in securing ours.

Made of giant chains and hung with shackles, this iron cross honors those unknowns who perished under American slavery.